The following computer-generated description may contain errors and does not represent the quality of the book:After winning his spurs at Breslau (1889), Lasker, the new-fledged master, tried his hand in a master's tournament at Amsterdam in the same year. The entries were less numerous than in the Congresses of the German Chess Association, but it was, nevertheless, patronised by Burn, Mason, Blackburne, Gunsberg, Van Vliet, and others. Burn won the first prize and Lasker the second - a success as a maiden effort. He increased his reputation in England by beating Bird in a match, by winning the National Masters' Tournament of the British Chess Association, and by defeating Blackburne in a match.

In the meantime the date for the Dresden Congress of the German Chess Association approached, in which Lasker intended to take part. He changed his mind, and did not enter. But during its progress he wrote a letter to me, with the request to ask (privately) the winner of this tournament, presumably Dr. Tarrasch, whether he would be willing to play him a match. I handed his letter over to Dr. Tarrasch, but his reply was unsatisfactory, and I informed Lasker of my abortive mission. This episode has been ventilated in the chess press at the time, and need not be recapitulated here in detail. It will suffice to state that I did not communicate Dr. Tarrasch's reply verbatim, but in a form which I deemed less offensive to Lasker, so as not to prevent a renewal of the challenge. Dr. Tarrasch held afterwards that I had no right to give what I called a diplomatic answer, and the consequence was a sharp polemic in the Chess Monthly, which disturbed my friendly relations with Dr. Tarrasch for the time being; but the matter was finally cleared up during the Hastings Tournament, in which Dr. Tarrasch competed.

Lasker, who did not intend to hide his talent under a bushel, challenged Steinitz, the then champion; beat him in a match and return match, acquiring thus the title champion.